By Peter Fabricius
Foreign Editor
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is conducting a quiet mission to secure the release of individuals imprisoned for their political views or sexual orientation.
In Lilongwe two weeks ago, Ban persuaded Malawian President Bingu wa-Mutharika to pardon two gay men who had been sentenced to 14-year jail terms for their sexual orientation.
He then urged the Malawian parliament to reform the country's legislation that criminalises homosexuality.
He disclosed this weekend that he had discussed the same issue with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, as Uganda is in the process of making its anti-gay legislation even harsher.
Ban was reluctant to discuss the outcome of his discussion with Museveni, but did say that the Ugandan leader had told him that the legislation had been introduced not by him, but by a member of parliament.
"Therefore, politically speaking, he was not in a position to intervene in any parliamentary process, but he told me that he would do whatever he could as president. He was fully aware of the sensitivity of this issue."
Ban said he would also try to follow up on his appeal to the Malawi MPs to amend the anti-homosexual laws, although it was "essentially up to them now". He said he had gauged from the reaction to his speech in parliament that the feeling of MPs about his appeal was "not unanimous".
UN officials say Ban's appeal to Mutharika to pardon the two gay men was not his first such intervention.
He persuaded Cameroon's President Pierre Biya last week to release journalist Lewis Medjo and to "favourably consider the case of prominent singer Lapiro de Mbanga", both of whom had been sentenced to three years in prison for anti-government writing or activism.
The officials say Ban has also managed in the past to persuade Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to release three British sailors arrested in the Persian Gulf when they strayed from Iraq, and the imprisoned journalists Roxana Saberi and Maziar Bahari.
He also persuaded Ahmadinejad to grant access by their mothers to three young American hikers also imprisoned in Iran.
And he played a major role in the release of BBC journalist Alan Johnston, who was held hostage in Gaza for four months in 2008.
Ban has proposed an international commission of inquiry to investigate the lethal Israeli commando raid on a Turkish ship trying to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza on May 31.
Both Israel and Turkey would be represented on the commission.
Ban said that he had not yet received any official response from Israel to this proposal.